Earth and Fire
by SecretSnuffles
Summary: Ailin had always had a strong hatred for the Fire Nation. The savages had attacked and forced her family from their home. But what happens when she meets Luowen, a girl from a Fire Nationy colony who clashes with the views of her own people? Maybe they aren't so different. Could they even become friends? This is their story. Joint fic with Dragon Girl Rowan.
1. Prologue

**I (SecretSnuffles) decided to write this ages ago, but it's taken me ages to properly start. Recently I've decided with my friend Rowan Dragon Girl that we will write it together. We're each going to write a chapter, but will help each other to write them. This is only the beginning, there will be more. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and we don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender. If we did there would be more. Just more of everything. I guess that's why we have fanfiction.**

**Prologue**

Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.

100 years past and the fire nation are nearing victory in the war. I want to fight the fire benders who drove my people from our rightful home, but it's near impossible. News has spread of the Avatar's return. So maybe some day, somehow, we can take back our land and the Avatar will save the world.


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

**SecretSnuffles: First chapter! YAY! I think it's a little short, but I takes me forever to actually write. I'm not so sure if I presented the thoughts correctly. I would really appreciate criticism :) Enjoy! **

**Chapter 1: Introductions**

The sun blazed down on a small Earth Kingdom village. Not a village really. A village would have proper homes. The buildings here were not homes. They were makeshift, cold buildings constructed from earth.

A young girl, her hand gripping the strap of a tattered green bag trudged along a beaten track through the village. The bag was dragging along the ground, for the girl, being small, did not have the strength to lift it. She wore attire traditional to an Earth Kingdom peasant. Her hair, which was tied in a plait down her back, was light brown in colour. Small freckles were dotted across her face and her blue eyes examined everything around her. She smiled, revealing two missing front teeth, at a cat chasing an elephant rat down the road. The girl reached a row of plain, miserable looking houses and proceeded down it.

"Ailin! Ailin! I'm back!"

She yanked up the bag over her shoulder and ran towards one of the homes where another girl, this one older, was emerging.

The older girl waved to the younger with a smile on her face. A tear held onto her onto her cheek which she wiped away, as if it had escaped a near perfect facade. She couldn't let go of her strength. Being an Earth Kingdom dweller was not all about her green eyes, brown hair, clothes and nation, it was about determination, fortitude and durability. This was the first time she had ever yielded to her anguish. The anger was too difficult to control, but the sadness was easily buried deep inside her. She pulled some escaped curls behind her ear and thought of good days to keep the mask of optimism secure. Just for her sister.

"Did you manage to get everything from Yili?," she asked.

"Yes!," the young girl answered proudly as she hugged the other. She held out the strap of the bag, "Here you go."

"Good job Ami. Come on, food's ready!"

"Ooh what is it?," her voice sounded hopeful.

The older girl frowned. "Boiled cabbage again."

"Eugh! Yuck!"

"It's all we have."

Ami's lip formed into a naive pout. Ailin patted her back.

"Come on, get inside. It's too hot to stay out for this long."

"You goin' to gramps'?"

"Yes, see you soon okay?"

"Can't I come?"

"Sorry Ami, not this time."

As Ami entered the house, her sister turned away and started down the road.

* * *

Gramps lived far out in the middle of nowhere. It was fortunate he did, as he and Gran's little wooden house had survived the fire nation attacks. It was small, but full to the brim with an aura of love. To make money, Gran grew vegetables by the house to sell at market. Gramps had once been a soldier, and had adored his job. However, his hair had turned white and his once undeniable talent was exhausted. Now he spent his days as an earthbending teacher to Ailin and her cousin. It was likely he loved this job more.

"Come on! You're being lazy!," Gramps taunted.

Ailin's face screwed up in frustration. Beads of sweat clung to her forehead.

"Eugh! It's so stupid! Why can't it just work?"

Gramps placed a hand on her shoulder and gestured towards the girl standing not too far away. All of the girl's attention was centred on the ground. Her cheeks were red and her eyebrows were knitted together in determination.

"You just have to keep trying. Shina still hasn't mastered the simple version, but you haven't seen her exploding."

"She's better at paitence." Ailin would have glared at Shina, for she didn't like that her cousin was almost matching her skills. However, she wasn't the kind of person to act in such a horrid way, so just nodded and inhaled long to prepare for another attempt.

Ailin sank down into a squat. With her face set in deep concentration, her hands rose above the land at her feet. Her fingers twitched and curled into fists.

"AAAH!"

The fists swung down as the ground rose up. A model of a man was formed, showing perfectly every detail of the face. However, the rest was similar to the body of a Water Tribe snowman, with two great lumps of dirt for a body.

"You just have to keep trying."

* * *

Ailin could feel the anticipation of her tears. Everything was falling apart. Inside and out. Feelings she didn't allow herself to have, that had been buried deep down were escaping.

Bitten lip.

Swallowing hard.

A whimper, "But..."

Comforting arms engulfed her as the waterworks flowed

* * *

Not a sound could be heard as Ailin walked alone. The twilight was peaceful, and the forest was a fair place to wander through. She was glad of the tranquility, it gave her time to properly sort her thoughts.

Gramps knew what was going on, but didn't mention it. He had only given her hugs and told his cheesey jokes. They were the worst! But it did make her feel better. There were many, "It's alright" and "It'll get better"s from Shina and Gran, but Ailin had already convinced herself that it was hopeless.

"Where are you Lisi?," Ailin asked the shadows, but of course, there was no reply. She felt like the only one who cared. Before she had felt like the only one who didn't care. Frustration ran through her body. Every step came with a horrifying image of something he could be going through.

'I've got to try if no one else does.'

'They have tried.'

'Not enough to love him truly.'

'Maybe I will...'

'It's my fault!'

"I'll get you back Lisi."

An invisible voice reached Ailin's ears from the distance.

"E-excuse me?"

A girl emerged from behind a tree. She was different than anyone Ailin had ever seen before. Her hair was orange! Orange!

"I've gotten a bit lost." She sniffed and grinned from ear to ear, which both happened to be slightly pink like her freckle covered face. She had really been rolling through the forest by the looks of her filthy clothes.

Ailin's stare was a look of pure resent.

"Fire Nation!"


	3. Chapter 2: Runaways

**Rowan Dragon Girl: Hey readers! Rowan here, a new Co-Author, helping Snuffles with her amazing story! Obviously this chapter is going to be FABULOUS because it was written by me... *shakes head***

**Snuffles: Don't shake your head Rowan. Your chapter is RAVENCLAWESOME! Anyway, here's Rowan's chapter!**

**Chapter 2: Runaways**

Sunlight filtered through the trees onto the damp ground below. A young girl with ginger hair ran on ahead of her sister, who walked slowly, yellowish eyes searching the surroundings for any familiar sights. They had been walking for what seemed like hours, even though it had only been minutes. Luowen sighed,not paying much attention to her smaller sibling, who was running after what looked like a rabbit-monkey. She was beginning to regret the fight she had had with her grandma...

* * *

_Earlier that day_

"No! Why do we have to be at war with the other nations? They have just as much right to be on this earth as we do!", cried Luowen.

The elderly lady scowled fiercely, folding her matchstick arms. The air in the house seemed to grow dry and hot with the barely restrained anger that rose from the wrinkled, shriveled, hunched over old woman like smoke.

"The Fire Nation must show the world their strength! If we just sit back and 'be one with nature' like those ignorant air-benders did, we will be wiped off the face of the planet! By waging war with the other nations, we are preventing our own nation from being swallowed by the spirits of laziness and stupidity! You must be more foolish than your stupid mother if you believe that everyone in the world can live in harmony."

Luowen's mother had been a great woman, and had been great friends with people from all of the different nations. That all changed when Luowen's grandmother declared that she wouldn't have their 'pure race' mixing with the 'lower nation filth'. She and her husband had tried to make it back to their two children staying in the fire nation, as they had been visiting a friend in the nearby earth kingdom at the time. However, their ship had been sunk by a water tribe fleet, who had seen the fire nation ship and though it was a danger. Their two children had been taken in by their grandmother. Luowen, who was 9 at the time, and Xiya who was 3. They had spent 4 years with their grouchy old relative in the colonies, and still the person Luowen had looked up to most had been her mother. If anyone insulted her, she tended to get mad.

Really mad.

Luowen stamped her foot with ferocious anger, not caring about the dangerous flames that flew into the air at the hot, fierce emotion. Her grandmother gasped and fixed her oldest grandaughter with a wide eyed look of horrified anger.

"How DARE you show flame to me! Your own flesh and blood! No fire-bending training for a mont-"

"I don't care what you say, you stupid old bat!," shouted Luowen, fists clenched tightly at her sides, sparks flying. "I'm sick of your and everyone else's stupid views of the other nations and ridiculous lies about my mother! I'm running away and never coming back!"

* * *

Luowen sighed and stopped walking, deep in thought. She shouldn't have lost her temper like that... After the fight, she had ran from the house, grabbed her little sister's hand and fled to the forest. Her family had all played there together on their visits before... everything. She had ignored Xiya's worried questions and ran. Ran and kept on running until Xiya had forced her to stop for a rest, huffing and puffing. That was when they had realised they were lost. They had tried to go back the way they had came, but the twisting, labyrinth of trees had lead them astray, causing them to walk deeper and deeper into the forest.

She looked up, about to call to her sister and tell her not to wander too far when she realised that Xiya was nowhere in sight.

Panic gripped Luowen's heart as she spun on the spot, seeking any sign of her little sister's red clothing and bright hair, but all she could see were trees. Green leaves above, brown leaves on the forest floor, dark bark in every direction, but no red! She tried to shout, but the fear squeezed her throat with immortal claws and all she could manage was a terrified wheeze. She summoned her courage and tried again.

"Xiya?", she croaked.

Nothing. Not a sound. Only the whisper of the wind through the branches of the silent giants.

"XIYA!"

Her voice swelled, her frozen state shattering as she began to run. Where was her sibling? How would she find such a small girl in such a great forest? Tears threatened to spill from yellow-green eyes as she sprinted, screaming her sister's name with all the power she had, ears strained for a reply. None came.

A thought flitted across her mind as she ran, to where she didn't know.

'It's your fault if she gets hurt.'

The tears blurred her eyes as she searched, and didn't see the steep hill right infront of her. Not until she tumbled down it.

Suddenly, down was up, up was down and everything was spinning. A startled cry rang through the air and Luowen curled herself into a ball, trying to stop getting hurt too bad. Thorns tore at her hair and clothing and she squeezed her eyes shut, clutching her legs, all thoughts forgotten. She started wondering when it would all stop when... It did.

She opened her eyes slowly, cheek pressed against the cold earth and looked about. Everything had stopped spinning. Luowen stood up unsteadily, stumbling a bit before straightening and observing what was around her. The trees had thinned out slightly... And straight ahead of her in the distance was an Earth Kingdom village.

Small bending-made earthen houses were spread out in front of her, beautiful in their simplicity. She breathed a small sigh of relief; Earth Kingdom villagers would help find her sister!

When she was young, her mother had told her of the great earth-benders and their brave, kind hearts. Her father was once great friends with an Earth Kingdom man named Nomai, and he had often expressed his disgust of the Fire Lord's soldiers. Even though they were great friends, there was still a war going on between the nations, and precautions had to be taken to ensure Nomai and his family would be safe. Luowen hurried towards the village, a hopeful smile on her face.

She had only gone a few metres when she noticed a girl, wearing traditional Earth Kingdom garb,weaving her way through the maze of houses. Luowen looked down at her clothing. It was torn and covered in mud... But there was nothing to be done about it. She felt a blush cover her face as she approached the curly haired girl. She hoped the girl didn't think she was some kind of beggar...

"E-excuse me?", she said, announcing her presence. She cursed her stutter. She had meant to sound less helpless! The Earth Kingdom girl regarded her in what looked like utter horror.

"I've gotten a bit lost." She gave a grin, trying to show she meant no harm. The girl continued to stare until Luowen felt her face heat up again.

Suddenly the girl's face morphed into a mask of pure hatred, making Luowen blink in shock. Had she done something to offend her?

"Fire Nation!", hissed the villager.

**Rowan: Thank you, thank you... *takes a bow* Can't wait for the next one! I think me and Snuffles are going to be pretty much doing a joined story now, so feel free to PM either of us (I'm Dragon Girl Rowan) if you wanna talk about the story!**


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